Federation of British Historic Vehicleย Clubs
Category: Motoringย Group
The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) aims to โuphold the freedom to use historic vehicles on the roadโ by representing owners of these vehicles to โpoliticians, government officials, and legislatorsโ, according to its website.
While the FBHVC has said it does not oppose clean air schemes that either charge more polluting vehicles for entering city centres or ban them altogether, it has called for exemptions to be made for historicย vehicles.
The FBHVC comprises โ540 subscriber organisations representing a total membership of over 250,000 in addition to individual and trade supportersโ. The organisation encourages the โpreservation and promotion of all types of vehicle within the broader context of our nationalย heritageโ.
It describes the โlegislationโ aspect of its organisational strategy as the โmost fundamental element of what we do and embraces how we engage those who draft legislation, debate what is appropriate and finally agree and implement thisย legislationโ.
Elsewhere, it says it works to protect the right of historic vehicle owners to use their vehicles on the road โwithout unreasonable restrictionโ, โwithout modificationโ and โwithout the need to conform to the performance, roadworthiness and environmental standards which are applied to the generality of modernย vehiclesโ.
The FBHVC belongs to FIVA, an international body which it describes as the โprincipal mechanism by which we engage EU legislatorsโ. The FBHVC publishes a bi-monthly newsletter.
All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicleย Group
The FBHVC runs the All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicle Group, which it says enjoys the support of politicians from โall of the major politicalย partiesโ.
The group is chaired by Conservative MP and former Minister of State for Industry Sir Greg Knight, a long-time classic car enthusiastย who successfully campaigned for the vehicles to be exempt from statutory MOT testing in 2011, calling it an โunnecessary bureaucratic hurdleโ. Knight has also said he does not expect government plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040 to beย met.
The groupโs Vice Chair is Labour MP Mark Tami, its Treasurer is Labour MP John Cryer, and its Secretary is Conservative MP Sir Christopher Chope, one of only five MPs who voted against the UKโs Climate Change Act inย 2008.
The RAC paid for a dinner held by the group in 2018, according to parliamentary records.
Funding
The FBHVCโs directors are volunteers, according to its website, but the groupย raises funds to support its work through member subscriptions. The organisation also has a number of commercial partners.
Air Pollutionย Lobbying
In an overview of its history, the FBHVC notes that environmental considerations โnow occupy centre stage: some might say the whole stageโ and said โproposed measures to protect the environment are particularly difficult to counter without losing credibilityโ. It explained it therefore needed to find a middle ground on issues rather than oppose measuresย outright.
It also said it wasnโt โsustainableโ for people to keep doing whatever they liked regardless of environmental impacts and that โmost governments are trying to move public attitudes towards reducing blatantย consumerismโ.
However, the FBHVC has made strong calls for historic vehicles to be exempt from emissions chargingย schemes.
In a 2019 issue of its in-house magazine, the FBHVC said it had been making efforts to secure a โgeneral exemption for Historic Vehicles into the primary legislationโ for Clean Air Zones (CAZ) but that this had not beenย successful.
In the previous issue, the FBHVC said it could no longer rely on the public being generally supportive of the โhistoric vehicle movementโ as a result of growing concern about climate change and airย pollution.
The group said it needed to โrecognise this change, respect the reasons for itโ and โjustify our activities with politeness andย careโ.
It noted it had responded to consultations on a number of proposed CAZs, including in Leeds and Birmingham, and Low Emission Zones (LEZ), such as in Edinburgh, where the FBHVC has been calling for exemptions for historic vehicles, particularlyย buses.
In a 2018 issue, the FBHVC said it was emphasising the โinsignificant actual effect on the environment of historic vehiclesโ in responses to proposed clean airย schemes.
It also said it had called on the Scottish government to consider exempting historic vehicles from its proposed LEZs, as well as the possibility of permits for specificย purposes.
Key Arguments in Order ofย Prominence
- ย ย ย ย Historic vehicles should be exempt from clean airย schemes.
- ย ย ย ย Historic vehicles represent a very small proportion of overallย pollution.
- ย ย ย ย โHeritageโ buses should be given time-limitedย exemptions.
- ย ย ย ย Historic vehicles are cultural artefacts which people should not be encouraged toย scrap.
- ย ย ย ย The contribution of historic vehicles to emissions has beenย โoverstatedโ.
Areasย Active
Bath: in response to a consultation on the cityโs proposed CAZ, the FBHVC said it welcomed the exemption of historic vehicles but called for exemptions to be made available for โheritageโ buses under 30 years old used for culturalย purposes.
Birmingham: in a 2019 issue of its in-house magazine, the FBHVC said the council had not yet agreed to exempt heritage buses from the proposed CAZ and officers had shown a marked โlack ofย sympathyโ.
Bradford: in response to a consultation on the cityโs proposed CAZ, the FBHVC said it was โnot opposedโ but argued that exemptions for historic buses should be considered because they are only used rarely and โdo not contribute significantly to pollutionย levelsโ.
Edinburgh: in response to a consultation on the cityโs proposed LEZ, it said it did not question the โneed and the justification for a LEZโ but that its impact on owners of, and businesses involved in, historic vehicles could be โsignificantโ. It called for exemptions for vehicles over 30 years old and said โheritageโ buses used for cultural purposes less than 30 years oldย should also be offered exemptions of someย kind.
Glasgow: in response to a consultation on the cityโs proposed LEZ, the organisation said it was โnot opposedโ but wanted to see exemptions for vehicles over 30 years old, citing data from a survey it conducted in 2016 suggesting historic vehicles only cover an estimated 0.21 percent of total vehicle mileage. It also said โnear-historicโ buses, aged between 20 and 30 years, should be given short-term exemptions for โlimitedย useโ.
Leeds: in a 2019 issue of its in-house magazine, the FBHVC said the council had accepted its arguments that buses used for heritage purposes โcould not contribute significantly to overall pollutionโ and had created a โsuitable exemptionโ in its proposed CAZ.
London: in response to a consultation on the cityโs Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), it supported the exemption of historic vehicles and โraised concerns that the pollution from these vehicles was overstatedโ, according to a summary ofย responses.
Oxford: In a 2019 issue of its in-house magazine, the FBHVC said it had recommended permits for historic vehicles for cultural events in its response to a consultation on the cityโs proposed Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ).
Sheffield: in a 2019 issue of its in-house magazine, the FBHVC said it had called for the same approach to exemptions as Leeds in its consultation response to the cityโs proposed CAZ. In its response, it argued the exemption of historic vehicles should โin principleโ be encouraged because there was โno public interest in encouraging the scrapping of cultural artefactsโ and their contribution to pollution wasย small.
Scotland: responding to a consultation on the countryโs LEZ proposals in April 2020, the FBHVC called for vehicles over 30 years old, including buses, to be exempted from the schemes โon a time-limited basisโ. It said emissions from historic vehicles were โextremelyย lowโ.
